Episode 11: Neurosis Part 3

John switched his car off and stepped nervously out of it. He headed across the street and into the small, white, clean building. He smiled at the blonde receptionist, who was chewing in a bored way.

“Hello…” he said quietly.
“You need to wake up!” the receptionist said urgently. “Conner! Wake up!”
“Who are you?” John asked quickly. “Why do I need to wake up?”
“It’s me…” the receptionist said obviously. “Georgia…”

John gasped and stumbled backwards and the receptionist urged him to wake up once more. As she leant over the desk, her head jerked sideways, and she blinked as if she had stepped outside during a particularly bright morning.

“What were you saying?” the receptionist asked.
“Georgia?” John repeated, confused.
“My name’s Joyce,” Joyce corrected him. “Now, would you like to book an appointment?”

Fifteen minutes later and he was at the pub with Victoria, pint in hand. Victoria was on her phone to Alan, telling him that John had booked an appointment with a shrink for the next day. She smiled and placed her phone on the table.

“I’m all yours,” she said. “What persuaded you to book the appointment?”
“I’ve realised,” John said. “I’m Conner Bennet. All these dreams are centred around me.”
“Let’s hope the shrink is a good one,” Victoria grinned. “That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard.”

Before John could reply, Victoria’s phone buzzed, and she snatched it up, almost spilling her pint.

“Dave!” she cried. “I know! Yeah! Yeah! I know!”

So Dave had heard about his visit too. John sighed.

“It’s Dave,” Victoria whispered.
“I know.”
“I’ll be back in a sec,” Victoria replied, getting up out of her seat.

She left John sitting beside the fire to discuss with Dave the unfolding events. She loved dramatics and angst. John slipped off his jacket in the heat of the fire, his eyes closing.

***

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, with patchy eyes. Georgia, Conner and Korena remained silent as he lit the large pile of firewood.

“You’d better get some sleep,” he said in a croaky voice. “I’ll keep the fire alight; I’ll keep you warm and safe. It’s the least I can do after…”

He trailed off. Georgia and Korena lay in separate piles of palm leaves, at a loss of words, and Conner followed them into the land of sleep shortly after.

***

The next morning John woke up nice and early, and headed for his first appointment with the shrink. It was unlike he’d expected in many ways – there was no doctor with a notepad, no leather couch, and no headsets. John sat on a comfy chair opposite the shrink, who seemed incredibly ordinary.

“Now, perhaps you’d like to tell me what’s been happening,” the shrink said in a calming voice.
“I’ve been having dreams,” John said. “Where I’m called Conner Bennet, and I travel with an alien in time and space with my friends – Georgia and Korena.”
“And what happens in these dreams?” the shrink asked.
“We travel around, and get into lots of danger,” John said. “But there’s one dream that keeps cropping up…”
“Oh?”
“The Doctor’s (that’s the alien’s name) spaceship has crashed in a jungle,” John explained. “And we’re stranded there. We’ve been collecting firewood and sleeping, but we’re trapped.”
“If you were to place your dreams in a linear narrative, where would this event fall?” the shrink asked.
“What?”
“If you had to place all the dreams in order of when they happened to Conner, where would this jungle scene take place?” the shrink said.
“Well, I’d say the other dreams, if Conner was real, which he isn’t, were in his past,” John said.
“Of course, Conner is just rhetorical.”
“But I’d say the jungle was his present,” John added. “He’s been travelling, but now he’s crashed, and he’ll never travel again.”
“That could be a problem,” the shrink said. “What do you think will happen after this?”
“I dunno,” John said. “I guess I’ll keep dreaming of his past adventures. Maybe they’ll make it out of the jungle.”

He shrugged, and the shrink typed something on his keyboard. He then asked John to lie on the floor, and recount one of his dreams. John thought back to his most recent dream, that he’d had only a few hours ago, and recounted the tale he’d called ‘Back to Colin and Elizabeth’.

***

“Colin!” Elizabeth trilled. “Georgia’s back!”

She rushed to the front door and opened it as the Doctor reached for the doorbell.

“Welcome to our home,” she said grandly. “You may see, we’ve made adjustments. Colin!!”

Colin appeared at the top of the stairs, sighing. Georgia brushed past the Doctor and hugged her parents.

“Mum, this is Conner’s first visit,” she said as she hugged Elizabeth.

Elizabeth squealed in delight and brushed Colin into the kitchen. The Doctor glanced at Conner sympathetically and headed into the lounge with Georgia. Elizabeth returned a few seconds later, stopping Conner, who was attempting to follow.

“Lemonade and cucumber sandwiches will be served shortly,” she announced. “This way Conner, the grand tour starts at the front door!”
“Georgia’s explained the house in a lot of detail,” Conner said. “Doctor, help! Oh, sorry Mr Bell!”

Colin steadied the tray of drinks and waved away Conner’s apologies, grateful to have Elizabeth directed at someone else for once. He entered the lounge and handed the Doctor and Georgia a drink each. Elizabeth was showing Conner an interesting corner of carpet where Richard and Rob had accidentally dropped Georgia’s birthday cake when she was seven and burnt the carpet.

“Where have you been recently then?” Colin asked happily as Elizabeth led Conner out to the microwave to her assurance that she never processed food inside ‘the microwaving contraption’.
“We went to Ireland,” Georgia said. “And 1945.”
“Was it a pub in Ireland?” Colin asked.
“How did you guess Mr Bell?” the Doctor grinned.
“Stereotypes,” Colin laughed. “Ooh Georgia, guess who popped round the other day?”
“Bethany?” Georgia guessed.
“Nope,” Colin said. “Celia Parker! Rob Slater Sr.’s ex-wife! She was at her poor son’s funeral, God bless Rob, and she popped round to give us condolences for Richard, God bless Richard, which was nice.”
“I always thought she was a bit of a bitch,” Georgia muttered. “What did she say, about two deaths in the family?”
“She was sorry for Richard, God bless Richard,” Colin said. “And she was slowly getting used to Rob, God bless Rob, not being there. I was tempted to point out that, being a business woman, she hardly saw him, but it didn’t seem appropriate at the time.”
“Possibly not, no,” Georgia smiled.

Conner, meanwhile, was upstairs, in Richard’s old room, which was untouched since the Slitheen had killed him. Elizabeth had insisted on telling him a story of Richard’s youth, where he had bought Georgia another ice cream after she had dropped hers.

“He was a lovely son,” Elizabeth said sadly. “God bless Richard.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Conner replied.
“You seem very nice,” Elizabeth said casually as they passed Georgia’s room. “I like a gentleman with manners, make sure you wave at Mrs White as you pass next door, I like her to know we keep good company.”
“I care about Georgia very much,” Conner said. “And therefore, I see you as second parents. You heard about my mum and dad’s deaths?”

He was hoping this would distract her enough for him to get away, but Elizabeth had found a new topic of conversation and proceeded to tell him her ways of dealing with her loss, which included ordering Colin to make her lots of cups of tea.

“I don’t even really like tea,” Elizabeth laughed. “It’s just fun to watch Colin squirm.”

Conner laughed in return. He liked Elizabeth, he decided.

***

“You see?” John said to the shrink. “The dreams haven’t got significance, they just happen.”
“I see,” the shrink replied. “Now, continue to lie on the floor, and close your eyes, I’d like to induce a dream if it is possible, to see your reactions when the dream occurs. Do you dream every time you fall asleep?”
“Yeah,” John said.

He yawned. The shrink tapped away at his keyboard, as he began to fall asleep.

***

Petr Costravalos flitted through the trees, heading for the blackened TARDIS. There was a roaring fire spitting and singing as Petr crept past a sleeping Georgia. He bent over Conner, and lifted an eyelid. Instead of stirring, Conner remained unconscious.

“Wake up Conner,” he muttered. “What happened to you? Are you in a coma?”

There was a noise in the trees a few feet away. Petr stood up and leapt silently into the shadows, where he disappeared into the trees. Korena groaned and rolled over, now awake. She glanced at Conner, whose head was lolled sideways.

“Conner?” she muttered, crawling over to him. “Conner? Wake up! Oh God, you’re unconscious!”

She slapped him around the face, but he did not stir. There was another rustle, again a few feet away from where Petr had hidden. With a snap of a twig, something emerged from the shadows. Korena screamed, but Petr was long gone.

To be continued…